PokerStars NJ welcome bonus

The standard package is a 100 percent match bonus up to $600. This isn’t all that remarkable on its own, until one considers that it pays out at an unparalleled 50 percent+ rakeback rate. The other award gives $30 in free play to players who make a $20 deposit or more. This works out to a 150 percent increase in value, also unheard of in New Jersey.

When we last saw PokerStars in the US back in April 2011, it was embroiled in a heated battle with then-competitor Full Tilt for online poker supremacy.

My how times have changed.

These days, PokerStars is the sole dominant force in the global market. They offer by far the best platform and game variety, the biggest tournament prize pools and the lowest pricing. It’s maybe not the ATM for pro players that it once was, but lucrative opportunities still abound.

So it stands to reason that expectations for PokerStars’ return to New Jersey—after a nearly five year hiatus from the United States online poker market—were running hot. These expectations were somewhat unjustified, considering the severe population cap of the market.

Yet, for the most part PokerStars NJ delivers. They are blowing away the competition in some respects and lacking in just a select few. That’s not so bad for a site that launched some 2.5 years after online poker first went live in the Garden State.

However, the site has hardly had a transformative impact on the market. Instead it has nudged overall revenue up just a tad, and cannibalized most of its cash game traffic from existing operators.

Traffic: A new leader has emerged

It still holds the lead in overall traffic, but the gap between itself and other operators has shrunk. In select areas, the divide has disappeared.

Cash games

Based on figures recorded by PokerScout.com, PokerStars NJ controls approximately 38 percent of the cash game market (130 players on average, roughly 325 during peak hours), compared to 40 percent for WSOP/888 and a mere 22 percent for Party/Borgata.

That’s a far cry from the level of dominance PokerStars NJ exhibited its early days. At that time it controlled approximately 45 percent of the market. And there is no firm indicator that PokerStars will regain the lead, at least for not any sustained period.

On the plus side, alternative game formats such as 8-game, 2-7 Triple Draw and Stud run with some regularity on PokerStars NJ. Not only do these games not get offered on other NJ-based sites, but most of them aren’t even listed in the cash game lobbies.

But NL Hold’em is still the go-to format for most players. It accounts for roughly 60 to 70 percent of the 50 or so active cash game tables during peak hours. Pot Limit Omaha games account for a pleasantly high 15 to 20 percent, with the rest distributed among the site’s alt formats.

Although NLHE stakes run the gamut from $0.01/$0.02 to $10/$20, the $.05/$.10 – $0.25/$0.50 levels appear to be the most popular. Generally speaking, games play a bit bigger on Stars than they do elsewhere. (Although I suspect that has something to do with the influx of net depositing players initially drawn to the site for its Spin & Go’s.)

Sit & Go

Practically nonexistent. Spin & Go’s have killed the sit & go market abroad, and they’re doing the same in New Jersey.

The only sit & go format that runs on occasion is heads-up games. Otherwise, it’s pretty rare to see 6-max go off with any regularity, outside of prime time hours.

Spin & Go

It’s impossible to tell with certainty how many Spin & Go’s run per hour, but it’s more than a few – way more.

During peak hours, approximately four games are played at the 10x multiplier or higher (~1 percent chance) per hour. Expanding that estimate across all games reveals a total of 400 games played in 60 minutes. That’s exceptional.

But why not? The shorthanded hyper-turbo format is ideally suited for closed liquidity markets, especially ones where many players are either new to online poker or took a forced multi-year hiatus. And that’s forgetting about the slot machine aspect of the format, which is a huge draw in just about every market.

The popularity of Spin & Go’s has compelled PokerStars to focus much of its marketing muscle on the format. It has prompted expansion beyond the $10 buy-in launch cap. Currently, the highest buy-in level is $25.

Multi-table tournaments

Although PokerStars NJ launched with a significantly toned-down version of its daily and weekend MTT schedule, it’s still more robust than what’s found elsewhere in New Jersey.

In total, 16 featured tournaments run on weekdays, all of them between the hours of 1:30 p.m. and 12:45 a.m. Turnouts for these tournaments average between about 60 for non-hold’em events to 150 for the low buy-in turbos.

At the lower buy-in end, PokerStars is roughing up the competition. Even the site’s big buy-in majors are attracting more players and generating bigger prize pools than on other sites.

The Nightly Stars ($10k guarantee) is having no trouble meeting its minimum benchmark. Both the $10k GTD Nightly on WSOP/888 and the Daily $10k on Party/Borgata have hit a roadblock, either posting a small overlay or exceeding their guarantees by less than 20 percent.

These comparisons lead me to believe that PokerStars MTTs are finding favor with the industry’s bigger players, who tend to value superior software and proven blind structures, which PokerStars offers in spades.

PokerStars’ players also seem more amenable to reentry tournaments. To wit, a recent Nightly Stars tournament drew 89 players and 55 entries, creating a $13,000+ prize pool ($10,000 guarantees). Without reentries this tournament, and ones like it, wouldn’t be making the grade.

Moving forward, when PokerStars hosts a named tournament series, the gap between itself and the competition widens dramatically.

Both the site’s NJCOOP in October 2016, and its Winter Series in January 2017 defied expectations. It set new standards for what it means to run a successful tournament series in New Jersey.

Value: The most bang for the buck – for now

Thanks to a well-conceived welcome package, there’s plenty of promotional value to be had on PokerStars NJ, at least in the short term.

And providing the operator doesn’t raise the price of poker – again – there’s good long-term value as well.

Welcome packages/promotions

PokerStars allows patrons to choose between two welcome offers was a shrewd move. One is tailored toward grinders and the other to recreational players.

The standard package is a 100 percent match bonus up to $600. This isn’t all that remarkable on its own, until one considers that it pays out at an unparalleled 50 percent+ rakeback rate. The other offer awards players who make a $20 deposit or more with $30 in free play. This works out to a 150 percent increase in value, also unheard of in New Jersey.

And that’s forgetting about the 1 million in free play money chips and, more importantly, the $5,000 Depositors Freeroll ticket.

Of course all of this is not to say that all of PokerStars’ promotions are exceptional—hardly. And keep in mind that both PartyPoker and 888 offered even more in the way of promotional value at launch, only to significantly scale back their efforts a few months later. In terms of its recurring promos, PokerStars appears to have traversed a similar path.

On balance, players can expect one to two promotions per month. Most of these award random prizes to players that complete rather simplistic challenges. This gives the promotions a casual vibe, which would be fine if the average cashback value of promotions tended higher.

As is, they’re mostly slight incentives, the Christmas Festival being the most notable exception to date.

Rake

Players who have been beaten up by the rake on other NJ sites will receive a modest reprieve playing on Stars NJ.

Rake percentage for no limit and pot limit games are 5 percent (4.5 percent for $.01/$.02 – $.05/$.10), as compared to 5.56 percent on both WSOP/888 and Party/Borgata.

The rake cap is a closer contest. Here’s a detailed breakdown of one popular stake where the cap is actually reached with some frequency – $1/$2 NLHE:

Party/Borgata: 2 players – $1, 3-4 players – $2, 5+ players – $3

WSOP/888: 2 players – $0.50, 3-4 players – $1.50, 5+ players – $3

PokerStars NJ: 2 players – $0.75, 3-4 players – $2, 5+ players – $3

It’s pretty clear that at this level, PokerStars’ rake cap walks the middle line between its two competitors.

However, at stakes below $1/$2, PokerStars offers the most competitive rake caps. Not that it really matters, considering pots at the micros and small stakes uncommonly swell to a size where they reach the rake cap. At these stakes, it’s the lower rake percentage that will save players money.

Conclusion

PokerStars offers the best rake schedule for small time players, and holds a slight edge at middle-limit full-ring games. Short-handed, higher limit games are raked lower on WSOP/888.

VIP Club

Before we begin our brief discussion, let’s take a moment to lament the loss of 70 percent rakeback on Stars.

The reality is that the new VIP Steps program isn’t all that bad, especially when matched up against loyalty programs offered by other NJ operators.
Both WSOP and 888 Poker offer higher rakeback caps (35 percent) than Stars (30 percent). However, reaching the caps on the aforementioned sites is a near impossibility in a low liquidity market.

On the other hand, the requirements for SuperNova (50,000 annual VPPs – ~$9,100 in rake/fees) are rather modest. They’re just half that of what they are abroad. Also, the entry level rakeback of 8 to 9 percent is hands down the best in New Jersey.

PokerStars also offers more flexibility with regards to spending loyalty points (StarsCoin). The VIP Store sells everything from cash rebates, to PokerStars-branded gear and online tournament tickets, all at the same conversion rate.

This stands in stark contrast to WSOP/888, which only awards cashback, and Party/Borgata, which has an equally comprehensive store but offers rather atrocious conversion rates on anything but tournament tickets.

Not to mention, there’s something gratifying about watching a VIP Steps bar fill up, if only because each step is incremental enough so that the next step is always within reach.

Software: There’s PokerStars and then there’s the rest

There are few words that adequately sing the praises of the PokerStars 7 client. Stellar, all-inclusive and unmatched come to mind. But that’s not to say the NJ client isn’t without its quirks, as minor as they are.

Interface and performance

The PokerStars client parallels the often copied but never outdone platform offered internationally.

From the masterfully designed tabular interface, players can readily access their preferred game format and vital information. Take for instance the cash game lobby, where clicking on a table grants players access to useful stats such as player names and statuses, stack sizes, average pot size and hands per hour.

One additional click and players can join the wait list (full tables only) or select their seat.

Individual tournament lobbies are equally user-friendly and information rich. Theypack in everything from blind and payout structures to “fun” features such as chip graphs and table stats.

But all this pales in comparison to the actual gameplay experience. The design and programming teams at PokerStars successfully managed to strike a delicate balance between aesthetic beauty and high-level customization, all without ever sacrificing performance.

From hand histories, to table info, player notes, layouts and advanced rebuy settings, individual tables sport every feature a player could ever dream of. All these features are neatly tucked away in creatively designed menus so that they never interfere with the poker playing experience. If this weren’t enough, even more in-depth customization tools can be found from the Settings sidebar.

Suffice it to say, in an industry where logins and geo-verification can take upward of 30 seconds, nearly every user action on PokerStars NJ is handled gracefully and effortlessly.

Well, almost. The PokerStars NJ client is such a beast that if run concurrently with streaming video, it can tie up a player’s computer. It’s also slightly prone to full crashes, although less so than at launch.

I’m going to give PokerStars the benefit of the doubt and say that crash/disconnect issues were growing pains, and will occur less frequently over time.

Account management

Players have ready access to a slew of account management features. Just to name a few:

Hand histories and tournament summaries

Deposit and bonus histories

Language and in-depth audio controls

Communication preferences

Game status updates

Player notes editor

And that’s just scratching the surface. Other sites can’t hold a candle to the sheer number of options available from the PokerStars NJ client.

But what’s perhaps most impressive are the site’s responsible gaming functions. Whereas other NJ poker operators only allow players to set deposit, spend and time limits – as mandated by NJ iGaming regulations – PokerStars goes a step further by permitting players to set limits and/or bans on individual game variants.

This feature will come in exceedingly handy for players who wish to still play, say, cash games, but desire to stay away from tournaments or slot machines.

Going further, players can also request responsible gaming history audits for select time periods, and can also impose restrictions that will forbid them from processing cashout cancellations.

Cashiering

If PokerStars NJ had launched six months ago, I’d be inclined to call the cashiering process problematic. But considering the newness of the product, let’s say it’s a work in progress.

Right around launch PokerStars made mention of PayPal being a deposit option, but that has yet to come to fruition. The site did, however, make good on its promise to add a pre-paid card option and Visa transactions.

As diverse as the cashier is, in other areas it’s trailing several lengths behind the pack.

More problematic, is that PokerStars will not issue an eCheck withdrawal until 10 days after a deposit – even if the funds have cleared a player’s banking account long before that. By contrast, other NJ poker operators impose no such waiting periods on verified accounts.

Finally, all cashouts up to the amount deposited are first credited back to the deposit method used, in so long as that deposit method is eligible for withdrawals. This is just yet another inconvenience in what is a growing list of annoyances.

Holding up payments is one surefire way to lose customers – hopefully PokerStars changes some of its odd policies shortly.

Grade: B+

Customer service: Adequate, but needs to step up a notch

So far my experience with customer service has been a hodgepodge of highlights and lowlights.

First, the good.

Support on the dedicated PokerStars NJ forum on Two Plus Two has been exceptional. Representative Dylan Coady has gone out of his way to respond to just about every player inquiry and problem – in most cases providing useful answers.

Another positive – responses from the email support team are lightning fast, as are follow-ups.

Now the downside.

Email inquiries are often misunderstood, and depending on the agent, the quality of the response can range from marginally helpful to canned. All too often, players will have better luck finding answers on the very detailed FAQ page listed on the PokerStars NJ web page.

Also, players who wish to contact support by any other means except email will be disappointed to know that there is no live chat option, and furthermore, players cannot initiate phone contact. Instead, they’ll have to fill out a form from the client requesting a callback.

What’s more, is that callbacks can only be requested between the hours of 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. That’s far too restrictive for my liking.

Customer service is (or was) the cornerstone of PokerStars’ global operation. There are flashes of excellence in New Jersey, but they’re too sporadic to warrant an excellent grade.

Grade: B-

Overall: A new day has dawned in NJ

Although the launch of PokerStars in New Jersey was more of a symbolic victory and stepping stone for the operator, there’s little denying the immediate impact it had on the state’s online poker industry.

The minute PokerStars flipped over the open sign, a new industry standard was set – liquidity was up, competitors began trying harder, and for a moment, even the most demanding grinders seemed content.

It didn’t entirely last. Yes, new precedents for tournament series turnouts has been set, and Spin & Go’s remain popular, but most of PokerStars’ liquidity and revenue was cannibalized from other operators. Today’s market is only a slither bigger than it was in early 2016, and before long, the comparisons may be flat.

PokerStars’ failure to grow the market by a material degree suggests that the only true path to expansion is by passing iGaming legislation in other states. But until then, PokerStars can continue to make a strong name for itself in NJ by adhering to the same standards that it does abroad.

It’s done a solid job of that so far, having more actively improved its product than any other operator in the market.

Grade: B

PokerStars NJ Review

Traffic

Value

Software

Support

Summary

PokerStars continues to make a strong name for itself in NJ by adhering to the same standards that it does abroad. It's done a solid job so far, having more actively improved its product than any other operator in the market.

September 2015: The DGE gives preliminary approval for PokerStars to operate in the state.

February 2016: Amaya announces a March launch date for PokerStars NJ.

What casino is PokerStars NJ partnering with?

Only land-based casinos can receive the Internet Gaming Permit required to operate an online poker or casino site in New Jersey. That means companies like PartyPoker and PokerStars must partner with a land-based casino to participate in the market.

Each IGP can operate multiple platforms and is good for up to five distinct brands.

Is PokerStars building a live poker room at Resorts?

To the best of our knowledge, there’s been no official update from either company since the initial announcement, and no word on the subject from new owner Amaya.

But sources tell OPR that the Resorts property has been prepped to begin the process of creating the PokerStars-branded live poker room at Resorts AC. And PokerStars has been generally aggressive about using a branded live poker room as a way to elevate the brand in new or highly competitive markets.

Will New Jersey players be able to play with the global PokerStars player base?

No.

This is one of the most commonly misunderstood aspects of PokerStars’ return to New Jersey.

PokerStars NJ will be completely separate from the global PokerStars.com player pool. PokerStars NJ players will only be playing against players located within New Jersey.

Side note: I believe this misunderstanding accounts for much of the (anecdotally-reported) high levels of interest in PokerStars’ return among casual online poker players, as many appear to believe they’ll be regaining access to the global player pool once PokerStars returns.

Is PokerStars returning to the rest of the USA?

That’s certainly the company’s intention, but the reality is that it will be quite some time before any significant part of the United States offers regulated online poker.

And, once that does happen, all of the individual states involved will have to agree to link up players, which is far from a guarantee.

So it’s entirely possible that PokerStars’ USA room could actually be a collection of independent poker rooms, some serving only a single state, some serving multiple states (such as the recently launched cooperation between Delaware and Nevada).

Some of the states with a better-than-average chance of regulating online poker in the next few years include:

It’s worth further noting that New Jersey’s situation is unusually complex. The state constitution requires that gambling can take place only in Atlantic City.

Squaring that requirement with an online poker game that stretches across multiple jurisdictions is an extra hurdle that New Jersey will have to surmount before taking part in any interstate player pooling.

Any hope of PokerStars NJ sharing liquidity with players in Nevada and Delaware?

Again, not anytime soon. While Nevada already shares liquidity with Delaware, regulators from Nevada and New Jersey have only engaged in preliminary talks regarding a compact.

Furthermore, Nevada iGaming regulations deem covered assets that operated interactive gaming in the United States after December 31, 2006 unsuitable for a license within five years of February 21, 2013.

For those asking about Stars future in NV, there is tainted asset clause that keeps PS out. Search “covered asset” http://t.co/l7g4yBPBi5 — John Mehaffey (@John_Mehaffey) October 1, 2015

Based on conversations I’ve had with Mehaffey, Nevada legislatures will meet in Febraury 2017 to discuss repealing covered assets. So, in theory, PokerStars’ entry in Nevada could come a bit sooner.

New York also appears to have changed its tune regarding PokerStars, evidenced by the omission of bad actor language from S 5302, introduced by New York State Senator John Bonacic in May 2015.

OK, but PokerStars NJ will eventually engage in international pooling, right?

Opinions vary, but the general consensus is that an international compact linking PokerStars NJ to the operator’s ROW pool is at best, a long ways off.

On one hand, a bevy of regulatory challenges must be overcome before PokerStars can even think to join its NJ and ROW player bases. And even then, from a business and financial point of view, Amaya may not see an immediate upside to linking a very big player base with a very small one.

Then again, if New Jersey State Senator Raymond Lesniak is successful in his bid for governor, he will lobby hard for PokerStars NJ to share liquidity, both on the interstate and international levels.

Should Lesniak win and should enough states pass iGaming legislation, deem PokerStars suitable for entry and share liquidity with NJ, the advantages of linking Amaya’s U.S.-based online poker operations with the international pool become that much more appealing.

But that’s asking a lot.

Do I have to be a New Jersey resident to play at PokerStars NJ?

No. The way that regulated online gambling works in New Jersey is that anyone who is within the state borders can play.

New Jersey online casinos and poker sites utilize geolocation technology that constantly verifies the location of a customer. Once you approach the borders of the state, you’ll lose the ability to play.

So, you don’t need to be a resident – you just need to be in the state of New Jersey (and 21 or older) in order to play at PokerStars NJ or any of the state’s regulated online poker sites.

Will I have to be in NJ to create a PokerStars NJ account?

No. You will be able to create a PokerStars NJ account from anywhere in the United States. You can also access the cashier and your funds from anywhere in the United States.

The only restriction is on actual gameplay. To take part in the real-money games, you’ll need to be in New Jersey (and have the geolocation software verify your location).

Does PokerStars NJ have an affiliate program?

I thought NJ regulators had rejected PokerStars. What changed?

New Jersey regulators paused PokerStars’ application in December of 2013, citing concerns about management’s outstanding issues with the DoJ.

Those regulatory concerns were addressed when PokerStars was sold to Amaya, a publicly-traded Canadian gaming company already licensed to do business in the NJ regulated online gambling market (and in a number of other jurisdictions, both domestically and internationally) and the executives in question exited the company.

In October 2015, the New Jersey Department of Gaming Enforcement released its report on the investigation into the suitability of Amaya for offering online gambling in the state.

The suitability appears to hinge largely on the fact that Amaya had purchased and is now operating PokerStars, and that it had distanced itself from the old ownership. The report notes that PokerStars and Full Tilt “conducted significant Internet gaming in the United States after the federal government made such gaming illegal.” More from the investigation:

As a result of the civil sanctions against the PokerStars Entities and criminal sanctions against their former executives associated with the companies that formerly owned these assets, the licensure of any entity associated with these assets required careful regulatory scrutiny by the Division. Simply put, these assets were associated with unlawful and criminal activity; absent a compelling demonstration that the owners, management, and practices associated with that activity have been purged, licensure of companies presently associated with those assets would be inconsistent with the New Jersey licensure standards.

Findings from the investigation:

That investigation leads the Division to conclude that Amaya has demonstrated its suitability for a Transactional Waiver Order. While the PokerStars entities operated in violation of the law between 2006 and 2011, a number of considerations – including the severe criminal and civil sanctions imposed by the federal government, the complete and irrevocable separation of the previous owners and almost all of the former executives, the acquisition of the assets by Amaya and their incorporation into a robust compliance and control environment, as well as significant changes in the Internet gaming market since 2011– lead to a finding of suitability.

Much of the beginning of the investigation details Amaya’s purchase of PokerStars’ parent company, as well as PokerStars’ history — including operations leading up to and including Black Friday and its attempts to enter the New Jersey market.

The report mentions the investigation of the “Autorité des marchés financiers” in Quebec that looked into activity around trading of Amaya’s stock after the company acquired PokerStars. The report offers nothing in the way of new information:

As of July 1, 2015, the AMF Investigation has not resulted in any proceedings and no charges have been filed. Amaya management has issued several public statements stating that the company is confident that at the end of the investigation the AMF will come to the same conclusion as Amaya: that if there were violations of Canadian securities laws, they were not committed by Amaya, its officers or directors.

The Division will continue to monitor the AMF investigation.

Conditions of approval

As one of the conditions of granting Amaya approval, four employees apparently must be terminated:

After careful review of all the evidence and the application of those facts to the postUIGEA suitability standard discussed above, the Division determined that four senior executives who remain with an Amaya subsidiary after the acquisition are not able to establish their good character, honesty and integrity as required by the Act because they were involved in the management or control of companies that violated UIGEA, or had responsibilities related to payment processing, providing legal advice, marketing, compliance, audit or operations at those companies. Consequently, each of those individuals must be separated from any employment relationship with Amaya and its subsidiaries if transactional waivers are to be issued.

From the report

Based upon the lack of material derogatory information revealed during the Division’s investigation and the strength of the integrated compliance plan, the Division concludes that Amaya and Amaya Holdings (IOM) have established the requisite good character, honesty, and integrity required for qualification as a qualifier of a CSIE.

The NJDGE “reviewed over 45,000 pages of documents relating to PokerStars’ business activities and operations.”

Deloitte LLC, Amaya’s public auditor, went over the company’s 2014 records with the NJDGE.

As of Black Friday, there were approximately 75,000 accounts belonging to residents of New Jersey on Full Tilt. The number of PokerStars accounts appears to be redacted.

The report cites Amaya’s decision to withdraw “from 34 “grey markets” where the PokerStars Entities previously operated Internet gaming where it was not expressly authorized” as a reason in support of granting a license.

The order giving Amaya the green light

You can read the Transactional Waiver Order granting Amaya the ability to offer online gambling here.

From the order:

I further ORDER, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 5:12-92a(1) and N.J.A.C. 13:69J-1.2B, and for good cause shown, the Amaya applicants are GRANTED a Transactional Waiver Order authorizing them to conduct Internet gaming related business in New Jersey with Resorts pursuant to N.J.S.A. 5:12-92a(1), subject to the following conditions:

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Robert DellaFave -
Robert DellaFave is a game designer and avid poker player. He writes for several publications centered on legal US online poker and the regulated online gambling industries in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.